Hidden Away
by Mayuko Tataeshi
Summary: Kira X Shiho fic, told from Shiho's POV. Shiho saves Cagalli from an accident, and befriends her. During a later battle, Kira is kidnapped by ZAFT, and Shiho must save him. ON HIATUS SORRY NONEXISTENT READERS
1. Chapter 1

Hidden Away

Chapter

1

My name is Shiho Hahnenfuss. I'm a straight A's student in my last year of university—took long enough, I took almost every course. Five years of my precious life, gone. I started university a bit young, at sixteen. I was only able to do that, though, because my mom got the principal to move me up to second grade from kindergarten. Why? Because I already knew everything they had to teach me in kindergarten and first grade. So, I cut two years off my education, by studying nonstop all my life. Not like there was anything else to do. I'm twenty-one years old, live on my own in an apartment, have never had a boyfriend in my life, I'm a serious tomboy (never worn a skirt in my life), and I don't remember ever having a friend. My parents died when I was fourteen. That was when I started living on my own. Hell, no one even offered to take me in. In fact, I don't think any of my relatives remember my existence. If they do, their memories are of a tall girl with long brown hair and violet eyes, who always wore the boys' uniform at school and never spoke much. Come to think of it, when _was_ the last time I spoke with someone? I guess I talk mainly to myself. Seems a bit weird, but hey, everyone does it at some point in their life. Some do it more than others. Anyways, on with the story. Or maybe I should say a bit more about myself. Okay, fine. My name is Shiho Hahnenfuss. I'm twenty-one years old. My appearance: I have long brown hair, violet eyes, I wear ties, and I've never worn anything 'girly' in my life. I graduated from every kind of military prep school you can imagine. I guess you could say I'm gifted. I've never had any friends, or crushes. My parents died in a car accident when I was fourteen, and I've lived on my own since then. My favorite song is Destiny, by Nami Tamaki. I can't sing crap, and there's even less to be said about my skills playing musical instruments, painting, sculpting or anything like that. The only reason I ever got an A in music was because I got special tutoring, all of which I forgot at the end of the school year. The only thing that I actually enjoy is military… well, everything. There really isn't anything else to say, so, on with the story.

As I was studying for my finals in university, I heard a crash from outside the window. I opened it, and looked down onto the road. There were two cars crashed into each other in the middle of the street. It looked like they had been going opposite ways, but one of the drivers had been drunk, because the cars were in the same lane, in a way. I grabbed a coat and went down to take a look. One of the drivers—the one IN THE WRONG LANE—was a male with tanned skin and blonde hair. The other was a girl about my age with blonde hair. I vaguely recognized her from university. I thought she was in a few of my classes. After checking both pulses, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911. An ambulance and tow truck came within ten minutes, and the boy and the girl were taken away on stretchers. I stared after them for a moment or two, then remembered my finals and went back inside.

When I got to my first class at eight o'clock the next morning, I heard whispers about a girl named Cagalli getting in a car crash the night before. I paused to listen, interested.

"Apparently, she got hit by a drunk guy, and she's in hospital," said a girl with loose red hair.

"Athrun's not here. Do you think he knows?" asked a girl with short brown hair.

"Probably," said the red-haired girl.

"Cagalli is so lucky to have a boyfriend like him! My boyfriend never visited me once when I broke my arm!" said a girl with short red hair. The girls seemed to notice me, and I quickly turned away.

After the first class, I went looking for a boy named Kira, whom I thought had seen a lot with the girl called Cagalli. When I found him, he looked troubled, and when I spoke to him he dropped his books. I bent down to help him pick them up.

"You're Kira Yamato, right?" I asked. He looked up. After staring at me for a moment, he nodded. He looked a bit stunned.

"I'm Shiho Hahnenfuss. Tell me, do you know a girl named Cagalli?" I asked him.

"Y-yes…" he said. "Why?"

"She was in a car crash last night, wasn't she?" I asked, noticing that Kira was looking like he wanted to cry. He nodded. I smiled.

"I was… let's just say I was a witness. I heard the crash from inside my apartment, where the crash happened. I took a look, and then I called 911," I said. Not because I wanted to brag about my possible saving of the girl's life, but because I knew how it felt to have a friend/loved one injured/dead, and I figured Kira would want to know what happened. He looked straight at me for the first time, and he smiled.

"Thank you," he said weakly. "Apparently, if you hadn't called the ambulance Cagalli could have been in serious trouble,"

"No problem," I said, placing the last book on the pile in his arms.

"Um… do you want to come visit her with me at around five-ish?" Kira asked. I stared. Me, go and visit someone in the hospital? Hell, I've never had someone that I gave crap about in the hospital! My parents just died, snap, like that, and they were never in the hospital. But it would be nice to meet the girl whose life I saved… I nodded. Kira smiled again.

"My last class ends at four-thirty," I said. "What about you?"

"Same," Kira said. "I think it's even the same class! I have Calc. Advance. You?"

"Yep," I said. "Not for long, though,"

Kira laughed. "Me too,"

It looked like we had a lot in common.


	2. Chapter 2

Hidden Away

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**Okay, a common question seems to be: Is it going to be a Shiho & Kira fic? Answer: I don't know. Athrun seems a bit OOC in this chapter, but have we ever actually seen Cagalli in hospital? If it's actually happened, I forgot. Sorry!**

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Chapter

2

I looked down sadly into Cagalli's sleeping face. She had a bandage around her head and a cast on her arm. Apparently she also had one around her chest, but the hospital gown and blankets were covering everything (like I would actually WANT to be able to see). A boy with midnight blue hair and emerald green eyes was sitting by her side. _This must be Athrun,_ I thought. He definitely looked worried. Kira had gone down to the cafeteria to get something for Athrun to eat, as he had confessed to having missed lunch.

"I… I hope she gets better soon," I said, not sure whether it was really the right thing to say. Athrun looked at me dully.

"She'll be fine. She has to be fine," he said firmly, almost as if he were reassuring himself and not me.

"Of course," I said. "I should go now," I left Athrun sitting by Cagalli's bed. As I was walking down the hall, I ran into Kira taking a muffin to Athrun.

"Going home already?" he asked, surprised. After all, we had only been here ten minutes.

"I have to study," I said, brushing him off. He shrugged, and continued on his way.

That night, I stayed up until eleven studying, until I finally fell asleep with my head on my science textbooks. I woke up abruptly at about two AM, and quickly moved to my bed to sleep for the rest of the night, hoping I wouldn't have a mark on my cheek the next day. Last time that happened was in fourth grade, and everyone teased me all day about the red mark on my cheek.

**Flashback**

"_Hey, Hahnenfuss! What's that mark on your cheek? Trying to get straight A's again? At least WE can do it WITHOUT staying up all night studying! HA HA!"_

_I stayed silent. I never said a word at elementary school. But some people thought I should._

"_There's no fun in teasing her, I heard she was born without vocal cords. She never speaks. And can you believe they let her go into grade two when she was only five!? What a teacher's pet!"_

"_Hey! Don't tease her! If you had studied as much as her, you could have been in grade two when you were five too! She has to study more because she has to stay up to par with people who are so much older than her! Instead of teasing her, how about you cheer her on, and be proud that you know someone who takes so much time out of every day to study, so that she can do so well in school!"_

_I looked up, surprised. That girl who was defending me… a girl my age, with shoulder-length blond hair. I saw her practicing for track a lot. Could it be…_

**End Flashback**

I woke up, sweating. What a weird dream. But there was no doubt about it. That girl who had defended me so long ago… that had been Cagalli. Weird… I guess she's more familiar to me than I had thought… And what's Kira's relationship with her? None of my business, I know, but maybe I'm coming out of my shell… Maybe I'll talk to him today.

"I went to visit Cagalli yesterday… she looks really bad," one of the girls from yesterday whispered.

"D'you think she'll be okay?" asked another. I sighed. They all seemed so worried about her. I guess… maybe I was worried. I couldn't really be sure. There's a few feelings that I guess I've never felt. Worry is definitely one of them. So confusing… Well, I can't let this get in the way of my studies. Once I'm done with finals maybe I'll get some friends. That would be an interesting experience. And it would be nice to get to know Kira—he seems like a nice person.

That day in Calc. Advance, we had a pretend test, as prep. for finals. I got 86/100! Oh no! I have to study harder—finals goes towards a third of our final mark! 86 won't be enough! I have to get at least 95/100, or I won't get a good enough mark… Agh! This is what happens when you're so obsessed with good marks! I mean, I'm not obsessed. My parents were never around to ground me. Before they died, they had really busy jobs. I guess I worked so hard in school because I thought they didn't notice me and weren't proud of me. Now, it's just force of habit. Maybe I need to take a vacation…


	3. Chapter 3

Hidden Away

**Okay, there's one thing that I don't think I made very clear, so I'm explaining it now--Shiho is 21 years old. Kira, Athrun, Cagalli and all those other people are 23. Except Meyrin. I always thought she seemed really young, so she's also 21.**

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Chapter

3

Finally! No more school… ever! Unless I become a teacher. I had my finals the week after Cagalli was hospitalized, and I was just waiting for the results. I hope I did well… Today was supposed to be the day that the marks for Natural Science would be posted, so I went online to find the marks for that course. 98/100! Oh yeah! I scrolled down the list, wondering what other people got. Normally I don't care about this, but I found out that Kira is in this class too. He got 89/100. That's a passing mark too, so we both did well. The marks for the other courses aren't being posted until tomorrow, so I decided to go for a walk. To my surprise, I spotted Athrun sitting on a bench in the park, licking an ice cream cone. I sat down next to him.

"What're you doing?" I asked. Athrun jumped. Looking around, he saw me.

"Oh, miss Hahnenfuss!" he said.

"Please, just Shiho is fine," I said.

"Ah, yes, I'm sorry. So, what am I doing here? Well, Cagalli woke up, Kira told her I hadn't left once, and she threw fifty bucks at me and told me to get out!" Athrun said. I took a moment to process this, then burst out laughing. Laughing… what a strange sensation. I hadn't laughed since long before my parents died. But now, I think that I like laughing. Athrun laughed too.

"And how much of the fifty dollars did you spend on ice cream?" I asked, through giggles.

"Only five," Athrun responded guiltily (ice cream cones cost one dollar each), also still laughing. After a minute or two, he and I managed to stop laughing. I leaned back on the bench, sighing.

"I was thinking about going to visit her today…" I said. "Do you think that would be okay?"

"Yeah, Cagalli would like that. She likes saying thanks to people who have done things for her, so she would probably want to thank you," Athrun said. I smiled, and nodded.

"Okay," I said, standing up. "See you," I said, and walked off to the bus stop.

"What!? Shiho!? Let her in, let her in, damn you Kira!" I heard. There came a yelp of pain from Kira, followed by more cursing from Cagalli. Then, Kira opened the door, a red mark visible on his cheek from Cagalli's slap. Although I personally don't see why she had to slap him… I went into the room, and saw Cagalli sitting up in bed. Her arm was now in a sling, and the bandage around her head had been removed. She still had one IV needle stuck in her arm, though. It looked so uncomfortable. I sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"Shiho! I'm so glad you came to visit me! Thank you so much for what you did, I really don't want to even think about what would have happened if you hadn't been there!" Cagalli said, all in one breath. She was the exact polar opposite of me—outgoing, excited, always talking, wanting to meet new people…. But she was nice.

"You're welcome, I guess. Is that the right word?" I asked, smiling ever so slightly.

"Oh, it doesn't matter. Hey, you're in Calc. Advance, right? Me too! Except that I missed finals… So I have to take them when I get out of hospital. And the nurses are saying that I'm doing really well, so I should be able to leave soon!" Cagalli said, still sounding like Christmas had come early. What a weird attitude to keep up 24/7… Well, I guess that's just how she is. And probably she thinks that my 'I couldn't care less about anything but grades' attitude is pretty weird too. Cagalli reached over to her pile of get-well cards—so many!—and grabbed three candy canes. She threw on at Kira—it looked like it was going to hit him on the head, but he caught it—shoved one at me and took the last one for herself. Following Kira's example, I started eating the candy cane. I love candy canes…

After around half an hour, when we had all almost finished our candy canes, Athrun came in. He ruffled Cagalli's hair, causing her to take a swing at him, but he dodged her hand easily and grabbed a candy cane as well.

"Hey! I didn't say you could have one of those!" Cagalli snapped. Athrun smiled.

"But you gave one to Kira and one to Shiho and…" he gave her puppy-dog eyes. She groaned, and stopped protesting. Kira and I both laughed. It was just so weird to see two fully grown adults fighting over a piece of candy! After another few minutes, I stood up to go.

"Will you come back?" Cagalli asked.

"Sure! I'll come back tomorrow, at the same time," I said.

"Everyday!" Cagalli insisted.

"Everyday," I confirmed. Cagalli smiled, and leaned back. I left silently, seeing that she was already sound asleep. Kira tip-toed after me, but Athrun pulled out reading glasses and a book, and settled down to read for the next few hours.

"Um… Kira… I know this is none of my business really, but what is yours and Cagalli's relationship?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, that… well, it's a bit strange really. We're actually twins, except that I'm a Coordinator and Cagalli's a Natural," Kira explained, then changed the subject, signifying that he didn't want to tell me more than that. I didn't ask any further, but I still wanted to know more. Maybe I would learn more later. Right now, I think I'd like t get to know these three better.


	4. Chapter 4

Hidden Away

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**Yay, chapter four! Things pick up in this chapter, and it's extra long to make up for the next chapter's crappiness. I'm trying to speed-write the entire fanfiction in four days--started on Monday, want it done by Friday--and so far I'm doing pretty good. So keep the reviews coming, and I'll keep the updates coming!**

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Chapter

4

As I walked through the park the next morning, I heard a siren go off. It was a completely alien noise to the ears of most of the people in the park. But I recognized it. That was the sound of a military siren—the kind of siren that signifies an enemy in the area. That was the first time that I ever really felt thankful for my military training, which I had, at the time, only done for amusement. This wasn't a drill, though. This time, the thrill would be real. I ran off in the direction of the military base. On my way, I was glad to notice people understanding what the siren meant and heading for the shelters. My only thought was, '_why attack Orb? Orb is neutral. Why are we being attacked?_'

When I reached the military base, I was stopped and asked for military ID. I didn't have an actual ID, but my certificate from military prep. school also works as ID. The guards let me in, and I headed for the command center. Lucky for me I knew someone there. Meyrin Hawke was a friend of mine from school. She had only taken a few courses so, although she had started when she was eighteen, two years after me, she graduated in one year. The job that she wanted didn't take much university training. Meyrin was in charge of Orb's ICIC (International Combat Intelligence Center). I went over to her. She was in the middle of decoding a transmission, so I didn't bother her.

"Transmission—Kusanagi is prepared for launch. Enemy ships: Four OMNI Archangel class ships! They're armed!" she cried, growing very panicked at the last two sentences. Immediately, I could hear running feet heading towards the hangar. Meyrin turned and saw me.

"Shiho! It's good to see you again—I only wish it could be under better circumstances. We're running short on pilots and…" she trailed off, looking worried.

"I learned how to pilot in military prep. school. If you like, I could pilot," I said. Meyrin's face brightened.

"That's wonderful! Um… ah, there. Commander Za Burrel, may I please have a moment of your time?" she called to a man with long blond hair. He came over.

"Commander Za Burrel, this is Shiho Hahnenfuss. She was a friend of mine in high school and elementary school. She can pilot mobile suits, too, and I had noticed that there are many extras and not many pilots…" Meyrin trailed off.

"You want to pilot a mobile suit? You think you can?" Commander Za Burrel asked. I nodded. He shrugged, and told me to follow him. I did so without question. Commander Za Burrel led me to a hangar, with many different mobile suits. The one that he led me to looked familiar. Examining it more closely, I saw that it was the model that I had excelled with in prep. school.

"This is the YFX-200 CGUE DEEP Arms," said Commander Za Burrel. I smiled reminiscently. I had loved piloting these.

"You can pilot it in this battle, if you like," said the commander. I nodded, and headed for the change room. I put on an Orb pilots' suit, and hurried back to the DEEP Arms.

"_YFX-200 CGUE DEEP Arms, you have clearance for launch,"_ Meyrin's voice came over the comm. system and echoed through the hangar.

"Shiho Hahnenfuss, DEEP Arms, launching!" I said, remembering the exact words I used to say during training, back when I was thirteen. My only worry was of forgetting something crucial during combat. But that worry was killed within seconds of entering the battlefield. I saw a few mobile suits that I had heard about on the news, mobile suits said to be legendary—ZGMF-X02A Strike Freedom and ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice. I only then realized that I was friends with the most deadly pilot rumored to be alive. I can't believe I never noticed that before. And the best ZAFT ace of the first and second Bloody Valentine wars. So weird…. But while I was thinking about that, a shot came my way and missed me by inches. I shook myself out of my reverie and my hands sped over the controls. My DEEP Arms spun at a speed faster than the human eye could follow, with every gun shooting at once. I remember my instructor used to say that I looked like a blossoming housenka flower when I did this move. From then on, it was my signature move. No one else was allowed to use it. Now I got to use it in battle, rather than just a simulation. Once I slowed down enough to get a proper view of outside, I could see a huge decrease in the enemy's numbers. The Freedom took down dozens easily, along with the Justice. I wondered if Cagalli was watching this.

After the battle, I was exhausted, but oh no, there was a victory party and I was dragged along by Meyrin. Everyone there wanted to shake my hand. Boys were asking me on dates—I declined, not very politely. Rather than, "No thank you," said in a sweet voice, I said "Hell no, why would I want to go out with _you?_" very rudely. Crushed a lot of egos there. And then Commander Za Burrel called me up on stage with Athrun and Kira, and we were all thanked, and everyone applauded very loudly. Then, the Commander gave me a medal, and told me that the YFX-200 CGUE DEEP Arms was mine to keep. Then he said, in front of a bunch of flashing cameras, that the nickname 'The Flower of Housenka' was mine. In my opinion, a mobile suit is a much better gift than flowers or chocolates. Not so sure about a nickname, though. But the biggest surprise was when Cagalli came running through the crowd to almost knock me over in a huge bear hug. After I was released, she hugged Kira, then Athrun, who spun her around and asked her to dance after being let go of. She accepted, and the couple walked off happily. Kira turned to me.

"So… good job in that battle back there. I've never seen a rookie fight so well," he said. I smiled, something that I've been able to do so much lately, especially for Kira. He smiled back, our violet eyes meeting.

"Um… so… would you… like to dance?" he asked shyly.

"Well, I… actually don't know how to dance," I responded, not sure if I was supposed to be embarrassed. "I would step on your feet, and you'd be limping for days after…"

Kira smiled.

"That's fine then, if you're so sure I would be that badly injured. What about going outside?" he asked. I shrugged, so we went outside. For some insane reason the victory party was in a big ballroom, so there were expansive grounds, just like a fairytale. Benches surrounded by roses and ivy—everything in every fairytale garden imaginable. Except for fairies, and those were made up for by the tiny lights hanging on bushes and trees, and the abundance of fireflies. It was all beautiful. I know saying something is beautiful isn't at all like me, but I guess I've changed in the past week. Yes, it's only been a week since I met Kira. And yet it seems like an eternity.

"Ah… Shiho… there's something… I've been meaning… to tell you," Kira said slowly.

"Go for it," I said, sitting down on a secluded bench next to him. He sighed.

"Shiho, I… look, when I met you, I knew you were different. I knew you weren't like the other girls. You were wearing the boys' uniform, and you didn't squeal or faint when you saw me. Instead, you helped me. I was almost in a state of withdrawal, and you saved me from that. You were kind to me, which is something that hardly anyone dares to be. Hardly anyone dares to go near me, in fact. But I'm moving away from what I'm trying to say. What I want to say is… Shiho, I really like you. Not just as a friend. Shiho… I love you. And I'm wondering… will you… be my girlfriend?" he said. It looked like it was really hard for him to say this, but now he looked like he had gotten a load off his shoulders. I smiled. Maybe he had just told me the name of this new feeling that I'm not used to. I nodded, and took his hand.

"Yes," I said, "Yes, Kira, I will be your girlfriend."  
Kira stared at me for a moment, then his expression changed to one of pure joy. Standing up, he pulled me to my feet before enveloping me in a hug. I hugged him back, glad that I had identified this strange feeling. But before we could be satisfied with our embrace, the sound of shattering glass caused Kira and I to let go of each other. Exchanging quick looks, an unvoiced agreement passed between us, and we both took off in the direction of the ballroom. Upon entering the room, we were accosted by a soldier asking us if we knew the whereabouts of Cagalli Yula Athha.

"No clue. Why? Has she gone missing?" I asked innocently, noticing that the soldier was from ZAFT.

"Yes, and she's wanted by the Supreme Council for being the last spawn of a breed lower than Naturals!" the soldier said, turning away to accost some other people. Kira led me out of the ballroom into the mansion holding the room, and then led me along corridors and staircases, putting his hand over my mouth whenever I opened it. Finally, he stopped by a perfectly ordinary-looking section of wood paneling. After running his hand over it a bit, he seemed to find a small catch, and pulled open the wall like a small door. The whole thing only reached up half the wall though, as it was all concealed in wood paneling. I crawled into the small space, and found myself at the beginning of a long tunnel. Kira crawled in after me, closing the door behind him. He slipped past me easily, as the tunnel was quite wide at this point. He signaled for me to follow him, which I did. He led me through the longest tunnel I had ever seen before, in all my years of military training. There were bizarre twists and turns, making it obvious that this was an escape tunnel. And sure enough, when we reached the end we were in a small shelter. The room was only big enough to accommodate five people, and Cagalli and Athrun were already there, making it a close fit. There was plenty of room to move, but four people in a small room…. Cagalli was sound asleep with her head on Athrun's lap. He had thrown a blanket over her, and then fallen asleep himself. They both looked completely care-free. Kira ruffled Cagalli's hair, accidentally waking her up.

"So, an Athha again, are we?" he said. I stared, confused. An Athha? But how….

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**Cliffy! Don't worry, the next chapter will suck, so you get to wait extra long to find out what happens! But even though I keep saying the next chapter sucks, you still have to read it, or maybe the rest of the story won't make as much sense! And that would be bad! **


	5. Chapter 5

Hidden Away

**Alright, crappy chapter time! But the next chapter is nice and long too. Enjoy the crappy chapter!**

I'm so hard on myself...

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Chapter

5

"Shut up, Kira…" Cagalli said, rubbing her eyes. She saw me, and her eyes narrowed. She turned to Kira, furious.

"Why the HELL did you bring along A FREAKIN' COORDINATOR WHO CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF!?" she yelled, causing Athrun to wake up and quickly put a hand over Cagalli's mouth. She struggled, but Athrun was stronger and won easily. He held his hand firmly over Cagalli's mouth until she calmed down, then let go. She looked like she was going to start yelling again, but instead sat down next to Athrun, who arranged the blanket around her. Kira threw another at me from a hole in the wall. I caught it and sat down. Kira soon joined me.

"Cagalli, Shiho isn't 'a freakin' Coordinator who can take care of herself.' Okay, she can take care of herself, and she's a Coordinator, but I would like to point out that you seem to have no problem with Athrun and I," he said, looking like he was about to ask for a story. Surprisingly, he did.

"Shiho is…" Kira and I managed to cough at the same time "My… girlfriend…" we all burst out laughing. I never really figured out why I laughed. I don't understand anymore what was so funny. Once we had all stopped laughing, except for the occasional giggle, kira resumed speech.

"I think… we should explain this to her. Everything," he said meaningfully.

"Fine, but you're explaining it," Cagalli said, and leant against Athrun's shoulder to go back to sleep. Kira sighed, and began to speak.

"Okay. Athrun, you haven't heard the full story before, so you should pay attention too.

"I'll start with the names. Cagalli's birth name is actually Cagalli Hibiki, but she has two other names that she goes by, Cagalli Yula Athha and Cagalli Yamato. She received the name Cagalli Yula Athha when she was adopted by Uzumi Nara Athha, who died seven years ago. She adopted the name Cagalli Yamato as a name to go under when she wants to be known as a mere civilian. Yamato is because she and I are twins. We were separated shortly after birth, and I was adopted by the Yamato's while Cagalli was adopted by the Athha's.

"Then there's Cagalli's 'breed.' She was referred to by the ZAFT soldiers as 'a breed lower than Naturals,' but that doesn't explain much at all. Near the end of the First Bloody Valentine War, OMNI introduced a new genetic type known as Extendeds. These were teenagers who had grown up with all kinds of strange experiments conducted on them. I'm sure you both already know far more than you would like. Anyway, before birth it was decided that I would be a Coordinator, but our father, Ulen Hibiki, wanted his children to be the best. Not to just have the best, to BE the best. He experimented so much on me, just in the few months. I became the Ultimate Coordinator, with abilities that not even most Coordinators have. Cagalli was left to be born naturally, but after birth our father experimented on her too. Due to the trauma of having a twin removed during the time that she was in the womb, and the added trauma and effects of our father's experiments, Cagalli became an Extended. She didn't learn this, however, until she was seventeen. She is now the only Extended left alive. We try to keep it a secret, as Extendeds are hated by almost everyone."

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**It's so crappy, it's even short... I'm hoping to end this fic soon, so enjoy it while it lasts!**


	6. Chapter 6

Hidden Away

Chapter

6

When I woke up in the morning (at least, I think it was morning. I never wear watches), I found the blankets arranged around me in a way that I didn't remember ever doing. I guessed that Kira was responsible. He was sound asleep in a corner of the room, curled up into a tiny little ball. Cagalli was asleep next to Athrun, who was the only one awake. I sat up, shivering slightly.

"Do you have a watch?" Athrun asked me when he noticed I was up.

"No," I said.

"Oh well… do you want something to eat?" he asked. I shook my head. Taking off my necklace, I unwound it to reveal its true purpose—a cat's cradle string. I deftly made the most complex figure I knew, trying to get my mind off our situation. It worked so well that I jumped when Kira waved his hand in front of my face.

"What's that?" he asked.

"An old game," I said. "It's called cat's cradle. Normally you play it with another person, but if you're alone you can just make figures, like this," I showed him the 'Chief's house' that I had just made.

"Cool! Can I try?" Kira asked. I nodded, passing him the string.

"Are you hungry yet?" Athrun asked me. I realized that my stomach was growling, and nodded thankfully. Athrun passed me 'nutrient block,' which is, literally, a chewy block of nutrients. Very nutritious, tastes like absolutely nothing. And then he passed me a cup of coffee to add some flavor to the meal. As I was forcing the tasteless material down my throat, the 'door' opened and a tanned man with dark hair entered.

"Kisaka!" Cagalli cried. She jumped up and launched herself at the man.

"It's good to see you safe, Cagalli," he said.

"You too, Kisaka," Cagalli responded. "What is it?"

"Well, I wish I could be telling you that the attack is over, but I'm afraid that's far from the truth. Cagalli… I'm sorry… your friends, the ones who were assigned to the M1-Astrays, they're… they were killed…" Kisaka trailed off as Cagalli's eyes filled with tears.

"No… no…" she whispered, shaking her head. She backed away, sitting back down next to Athrun, who hugged her comfortingly.

"I'm sorry, Cagalli. Really, truly sorry. But I'm afraid there's more. ZAFT has invaded Orb. They're looking for you and Kira. They won't stop at anything. All four of you have to leave," Kisaka said. I was about to ask why I had to go, but then realized that if it was learned that I had been hanging out with the people who were wanted, my life would be in danger. And Athrun… it didn't look to me like Cagalli would go away without him. Cute couple.

That afternoon, Kira took me back to my apartment so that I could gather my belongings. I didn't bring much—a few changes of clothes, toiletries, an old family picture, my cell phone, and… okay, it embarrasses me to admit this, but… my stuffed dog. I stuffed it all into a backpack, and turned back to Kira. He picked up a small box from my desk.

"Forgetting something?" he asked. I blushed. The box held a pin that I had received when I graduated from elementary school, saying 'best student of the past seven years. Dated: 30 June, C.E. 67'. And there was also an empty locket. I snatched the box from Kira and stuffed it unceremoniously into my bag. He smiled, and led me back to his car. We drove to a small hangar, where Athrun and Cagalli were already waiting. They were standing by a small transport-plane-thing with a ZAFT symbol on it. I figured the ZAFT symbol was for going undercover.

"Hurry up!" Cagalli yelled. I smiled, and obediently took off. Kira yelped in surprise, and ran after me. When we got to Athrun and Cagalli, they were laughing uproariously.

"Better work out some more so you can catch up to your girlfriend, Kira! It'd be embarrassing to have a girlfriend who's faster than you!" Cagalli said teasingly. Kira glared at her and, to my surprise, smacked her in the head. She retaliated, of course, and Athrun had to detangle them. Before Cagalli could get annoyed at him, the pilot for our plane came over. She was a youth of about fifteen, with long brown hair and red eyes.

"Lady Cagalli," she said, bowing slightly. "I am the pilot assigned to you for this trip. My name is Mayu Asuka, and I have been instructed to remain with your party until we receive orders from Orb to return,"

"Good to meet you, Ensign Asuka," Cagalli said.

"Oh, I'm not an ensign at all! I have basic combat skills, and I've been trained in piloting all kinds of aircraft, but I'm not really worthy of any rank higher than private right now…" Mayu said.

"Nonsense. From now on, you're an ensign, because I say so," Cagalli said firmly. She removed a pip from her pocket and put it on Mayu's collar (she was wearing the Orb military uniform). We all boarded the plane after Mayu was done protesting that it wasn't necessary. There were only a handful of seats. Cagalli went right to the back, and Kira and I took seats near the middle. The plane was small enough that Mayu could talk to us easily. As I sat down, I took note of Kira's casual clothing—we had dropped by his house on the way to mine for him to pack, and he had changed into a black outfit with at least fifteen red buckles. I wore jeans and a purple t-shirt with a housenka flower on it. Cagalli's casual attire consisted of green cargo pants and a red t-shirt, while Athrun wore a green shirt with black pants and jacket. Mayu called back to us to ensure our seatbelts were fastened while we took off, and soon we were gliding through the air to wherever.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter

7

"Now landing!" Mayu called to us. I shook Kira awake, as he had fallen asleep about an hour ago. He yawned as he sat up, and looked around with a 'where the hell am I' look. He quickly remembered the events of the past twenty-four hours, and his expression became less 'what the hell.' I know it's weird to describe expressions of the face using expressions of speech, but it's how I think. We were allowed to get off shortly, and found ourselves on a small island in the middle of nowhere. I got our coordinates from Mayu, and discovered that this island was uncharted—no one had ever put it on a map. Mayu led us through the trees to a small house near the middle of the island. There were five bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and lounge. Cagalli seemed to feel right at home, as she immediately threw herself on a couch and seemed ready to go to sleep. Kira poked her before racing back to the plane to help Mayu with the supplies. When he returned, he was carrying a heavy box, so Cagalli kindly refrained from attacking him. I decided that she would prefer not to have a brother with a smashed foot. I followed Kira back to the plane, with Athrun and Cagalli trailing behind. With all of us helping, we got everything inside just in time, as it began to rain a few minutes after we got the last load inside. Mayu hid the plane in a small cave on the seashore, just above tide level, and impossible to find unless you had directions. To my utmost shock, Kira made dinner. When Cagalli told him to cook 'because he can' I almost yelled a string of surprised curse words. I managed to get off with a simple, 'you can cook?' causing Kira to give me an amused look. He let it go easily though, and Cagalli and Athrun followed his lead. We had okonomiyaki for dinner, and I had to admit that it was pretty good.

The next week or two went rather uneventfully. We took turns cooking dinner, or rather, Kira, Athrun and I did, as Athrun and Cagalli both claimed that Cagalli's cooking is horrible. Cagalli kept complaining that she was bored, so she and I ran laps around the island each day before breakfast, and spent several hours each day in military training, occasionally learning new skills from Athrun. But one morning, we woke up and Cagalli was gone. Athrun automatically freaked out, and Kira tried to get him to calm down while I just took initiative and started looking for her. She couldn't have left the island, as she said herself she can't fly a plane. So I searched the house. I actually found a panel just like the one at the party a few weeks ago.

"Kira!" I called. I heard running footsteps almost immediately, and soon Kira poked his head into the room that I was in.

"Look at this," I said. Kira didn't even need to examine the panel.

"Get in here, Athrun! We found something!" he yelled. Athrun came in quickly, and crawled into the space before Kira even started to speak. Kira and I followed him along the tunnel. It wasn't like the one before, winding, and instead was very straight-forward. It came out in a small hangar, holding one mobile suit. It obviously wasn't your average mobile suit, though. This MS was golden. And the cockpit was open. Athrun leapt onto the elevator-thing and I could have sworn that he was hopping from one foot to the other in his impatience. Kira and I sprinted over to the lift and vaulted on. Kira, to my surprise, used only one hand and swung himself up as if it were the easiest thing in the world. When we reached cockpit level, Athrun jumped up onto the door-thingy. Cagalli looked up, and saw him.

"What are you doing here!?" she yelled.

"I was about to ask you the same thing! What do you think you're doing wandering off like that!?" Athrun yelled in return. Cagalli seemed taken aback by this question.

"I-I was bored, so I went exploring! What's wrong with that!?" she snapped.

"Hm, let me think. Maybe… everything? For one, why were you bored!? Shiho has been taking the time to practice with you for hours on end every day! Second, if you were going 'exploring', why didn't you ask one of us to go with you!? And third, when you found this, why didn't you come back and tell us!?" Athrun yelled. Kira groaned, and I think something snapped in him.

"Athrun, just because you can think of all those things off the top of your head _now,_ doesn't mean Cagalli could think of them earlier! Just let it go, will you!?" he yelled. Athrun froze. He obviously hadn't expected Kira to participate in this argument. But he soon retaliated, gathering himself together. But I had heard enough.

"Shut the hell up, all of you!" I screamed, effectively causing everyone to become very quiet. Unfortunately, Cagalli took this opportunity to kick Athrun's legs out from underneath him and close the mobile suit's cockpit. The eyes glowed, signifying that she was launching and probably had no plans to let anyone stop her. I calmly leaped down to the floor and ran to open the huge doors. I knew Cagalli would blast them open if I didn't. Then I ran to a small door that I had noticed earlier. As I suspected, it led to another hangar. It held the Freedom, Justice and my CGUE.

"Kira, Athrun, come here!" I called. The two came running immediately.

"Of course! We can follow her!" Kira said excitedly. He and Athrun made for their mobile suits. I leaped into mine, determined to help. To my surprise, Mayu's voice echoed through the hangar.

_"Heading out, then?"_ she asked.

_"Yeah,"_ Kira answered.

_"Okay then, I'll deal with launch,"_ Mayu said. Shortly after, we were lined up for launch.

_"ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice, you are clear for launch!"_

_"Athrun Zala, Justice, launching!"_

_"ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom, clear for launch!"_

_"Kira Yamato, Strike Freedom, let's go!"_

_"YFX-200 CGUE DEEP Arms, clear for launch!"_

_"Shiho Hahnenfuss, DEEP Arms, launching!"_ I saw Kira and Athrun already flying off in pursuit of what was now only a golden speck on the horizon.I gunned my engines, trying to catch up.

After flying for what seemed like hours, we reached Orb. There was a vicious battle going on. I could see ZAFT, OMNI and Orb mobile suits. Without thinking about why three supposedly peaceful nations were battling, I scanned the battlefield. A transmission came through on the ICIC.

_"Shiho! What is that mobile suit doing here!? That's the Akatsuki - it was supposed to be top secret!" _Meyrin said.

"I have no clue - all I know is that it's being piloted by Cagalli Yula Athha!" I answered, hoping that was the right thing to say. Meyrin sighed, and closed the link. I flew about as well as I could, trying to stay out of the line of fire. I carefully navigated to the middle of a bunch of OMNI Strike Daggers, and made my move. When I had finished, not one Dagger remained.

_"Nice going!"_ Kira commented, unable to fully hide the pride in his voice.

"Thanks," I said. "Look out!" I was just in time. Kira moved faster than I had thought possible and destroyed the ZAFT CGUE behind him. Soon, I realized that Kira was protecting me - a lot of attacks aimed at me hit him instead.

"You don't have to do that, you know. Protecting me, I mean," I said. Kira smiled, and stopped. But when a particularly powerful-looking mobile suit aimed all its weapons at my CGUE, blue and black wings obscured my vision. When the smoke cleared, I saw the Freedom plummeting towards the ocean, and a small message on my screen: 'I love you.' All around me, I could see Athrun and Cagalli taking revenge on all of ZAFT and OMNI, but I didn't care about that. All I wanted was to get revenge on that one green and red mobile suit, the one that had killed Kira. The words echoed through my head: 'killed Kira, killed Kira...' Within minutes, it was merely wreckage floating on the water's surface. I dived down, hoping to at least find the Freedom. I found it all right, but the cockpit was open and full of water. Kira was obviously gone. ZAFT had probably taken his body for assessment. A message flashed on my screen for me to return to Orb. I grabbed the Freedom's wreckage, and headed back.

As I lay on my bed in my apartment that night, I thought about Kira rather than sleep. I had never thought that he could die. I guess I was blind. As I lay thinking about it, the phone rang.

"Shiho Hahnenfuss," I said when I picked it up.

"Shiho! Listen, I need you to come over to my house first thing tomorrow morning. Can you make it?" Cagalli asked.

"Sure," I said, and hung up. I lay down on my bed and cried myself to sleep, something I hadn't done since my parents died.


End file.
